Hong Kong Style Soy Sauce Chicken

If Hong Kong had a comfort-food ambassador, it would be soy sauce chicken — glossy, silky, salty-sweet, and always judging you if you skip rice.
This is the chicken that makes you feel like you’re back in an old-school cha chaan teng, sitting under a flickering neon sign, listening to aunties gossip louder than the exhaust fan.

 HK Soy Sauce Chicken (Authentic, Auntie-Approved)

(Serves 3–4 hungry people or 1 Asian mum “just tasting”)

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.2–1.5 kg), cleaned
• 1 cup light soy sauce
• ½ cup dark soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup rock sugar (or 6–7 tbsp sugar)
• 3 slices ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3–4 spring onions
• 2 star anise
• 1 small piece cinnamon stick (optional but very HK)
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• A fearless heart because the colour gets dark fast 

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Instructions (Imagine In true HK Auntie tone):

1. Make the master sauce
   In a pot big enough for your chicken, add: light soy, dark soy, water, sugar, ginger, garlic, spring onion, star anise, cinnamon, and Shaoxing wine.
   Bring it to a simmer — not a wild boil; we’re making chicken, not sauna.
2. Chicken spa day
   Hold the chicken by the… “legs” and dip it into the sauce 3–4 times.
   This gives a beautiful even colour and makes you feel like a Michelin chef even if you’re wearing pyjamas.
3. Poach, don’t panic
   Gently lower the bird into the sauce.
   Cover and simmer on LOW for 25–30 minutes. Flip halfway if needed.
   (If the chicken floats, just pretend it’s relaxing. Don’t push it down aggressively.)
4. Turn off the heat
   Let the chicken sit in the hot soy bath for another 20 minutes.
   This is the secret to juicy, silky meat — the chicken basically slow-cooks in its own regrets.
5. Chop & drizzle
   Chop into pieces, spoon over extra sauce, and serve with rice or noodles.
   The sauce is so good you’ll consider bottling it and selling it on Instagram.

© Winsesweewok Nov 2015